1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a display control method for an image processing apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Digital cameras, that are becoming rapidly popular, have been regarded as a peripheral device for a personal computer, but are now sold also to users not having the personal computers. For this reason, there is an increasing demand for printing data of a digital camera by a home-use printer or the like without utilizing a personal computer.
Data obtained with a digital camera are stored in a memory card such as an SD card or a compact flash memory (registered trade mark). In case a personal computer is available at home, the image data can be fetched in the personal computer and printed by a recording apparatus such as a printer.
On the other hand, a user not having a personal computer can employ a method, for direct printing without the personal computer, of directly inserting a media such as a memory card storing the digital image into a recording apparatus and printing a photograph image by an operation from an operation unit of the apparatus. Therefore the demand for printing photographic image at home and the printing demand at home are increasing.
Also various low-end printers for home use are now being commercialized. For such low-end printers, various printing apparatuses including ink jet technology are commercialized. In such ink jet technology, the printing is achieved by an ink, and, when the ink is exhausted, a residual ink amount is displayed to the user thereby requesting the replacement of the ink.
Along with an increase in the printing demand at home, the printing demand is increasing also in low-end composite apparatuses and printers, so that the ink consumption as well as the frequency of ink replacement by the user are both increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to inform the user of the information on ink exhaustion in a more easily understandable manner.
A state of a low residual ink amount is often encountered particularly in low-end apparatus, so that an indication of the residual ink amount is considered essential in order that the user can execute a printing operation without stress.
For indicating the residual ink amount, various methods have already been proposed. Prior methods for displaying the residual ink amount include a method of detecting the residual ink amount and displaying such residual ink amount (for example, cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H1-195049) and a method of displaying plural residual ink amounts on a single display portion (for example, cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H3-32851).
For such display, various means are required for providing a correct value, since evaporation, etc., of the ink has to be considered, for example, in an ink jet apparatus. It is quite common to directly indicate detected information of the residual ink amount, but there is also known a method of also adding information on the frequency of use of the ink, and displaying a low level of the residual ink amount when the ink is exhausted in consideration of the residual ink amount and the frequency of use (for example, cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-86399).
There is also known a method of mounting a sensor for detecting the residual ink amount and displaying the residual ink amount to the user when a low residual ink amount is recognized, based on the information detected by the sensor (for example, cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. H9-98245 and H9-94981).
In the prior examples mentioned above, however, the low-end composite apparatus, the printer, etc., are required to reduce the cost as much as possible because of a severe price competition, so that a sufficient cost cannot be used for the display of the residual ink amount.
On the other hand, it is required to inform the user of the residual ink amount also in such a reduced-cost image processing apparatus by way of the display or the apparatus.